The current medical diagnostic and treatment environment is populated with traditional medical clinics and establishments consisting of physicians and other medical staff located in central office settings. The customer visits the provider at the central office location for examinations, follow-up appointments, diagnostic tests, and treatment. If other provider opinions or treatments are required, the customer must schedule those appointments separately and subsequently visit those providers at a later date at other locations. Often, specialists or other providers are located in other cities. This can be a hardship, particularly for those customers located in rural areas or in countries having sparse medical coverage. Some relief may be available for homebound customers able to receive home healthcare visits from a nurse or physician, but this creates a hardship for the medical professional that is unable to provide a volume of care to their patients due to travel time constraints, and only certain medical professionals may be available to make home visits. In addition, the more remote the patient's home is located, the less likely it is that any medical professional will provide home healthcare. Some patients may visit a clinic equipped with video conferencing capabilities and may interface with a remotely located physician having an association with the clinic in order to receive care. This arrangement is a small scale operation, and the patient needs access to the specific clinic having conferencing capabilities in order to interface with their physician. Although healthcare access may be provided in this manner, the patient is limited to receiving care from the physician(s) associated with the clinic. Geographic constraints may thus hinder access, quality and variety of healthcare for patients.
In situations where a patient is located away from their preferred doctor and possibly away from their insurance network, e.g., while traveling, locating and receiving affordable healthcare may be difficult. If a patient is seen by a doctor outside of the patient's insurance network, for example, the patient may be responsible for all or at least a larger portion of the medical expenses incurred. As a result, patients may be constrained by their health insurance network as to where healthcare may be received.
Moreover, as medical specialties continue to evolve, the diagnosis and treatment methodology will involve many more providers and specialists than currently accessed. For those customers who have ongoing or complex medical conditions requiring coordinated care, the scheduling and care coordination process for multiple providers is burdensome. Also, providers are not aware of the entire treatment prescribed by other providers. This lack of communication reduces quality of care for the customer.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a healthcare network that allows patients to receive healthcare anywhere that is accessible by a communications network so that the patient may receive high quality care regardless of their geographical location or the location of their health insurance company.